Need help deciding which camera to buy? Please help!!!

[eurosebas]

Im new to the SLR cameras and my parents are willing to get me one for x-mass i cant rly decide which one. I was thinking between Nikon D40/D60? or sould i go with canon?

The budget would be somewhere up to $550.00

Can someone give me some helpful tips and maybe some links with good prices i would really appreciate it.

Thanks
Sebastian

[speaklightly]

Sebastian-

Unfortunately, you have not told us about your own photo experience and what kind of photos you will be taking with this new DSLR camera. That will surely help a lot when making helpful suggestions to you.

Sarah Joyce

[AndyfromVA]

The Sony A200 is very good also and comes with optical image stabilization in the body of the camera, unlike Nikon and Canon DSLR's.

[eurosebas]

speaklightly

experiance = none and ill be taking pictures of just rando stuff, when i go out camping and stuff, parties pretty much just personal use.

[David Metsky]

It's important to know what kind of shooting you will be doing because the lenses you get are probably more important then the camera body itself. They will likely cost more as well. :)

[speaklightly]

eurosebas-

Well, it is time to get down to the details. Euro, do you really need a DSLR camera, or will a good bridge or superzoom camera, or perhaps even a very compact P&S camera that can easily slip into your jeans pocket do the job just as well while saving you substantial money?

Your proposed uses could easily be filled by a good number of high quality point and shoot cameras. So this is the time we might want to give some serious consideration to re-targeting your real camera needs. Is the physical size of your camera an important issue to you? Some people are much more comfortable with a smaller and more pocketable camera.

Please think about these issues. We might be able to save you some money.

Sarah Joyce

[speaklightly]

eurosebas-

I treated your initial post very seriously in my reply. My second post raised the question about perhaps you might be just as happy with a less expensive camera. And finally to be sure I had covered all the bases, I wrote a general post about the decision points that should be considered when selecting a DSLR camera.

Christmas is just a few days away. I how that you have made an educated selection. Have fun with your new camera.

Sarah Joyce